First Day of School August 20

What a fantastic day at Whittier School! Our first day of school was awesome with many parents and students happy to see the school year begin. Our new principal is Mr. Talluto. He is married and has three boys. He has been working all summer getting our school ready for the new school year.

Now that school has started, please have the students (your child/children) read at night and get plenty of sleep. Turn off the TV early. It is so important that they are ready for their school day. It takes awhile to transition from summer to fall, so by encouraging your child to get to bed early will help greatly in the transition. Remember if children have plenty of rest, they will perform much better in school and at home.

First Day of School and Open House

The students in our district will start back to school on August 20. The teachers will have inservices and meetings on the 18th and 19th of August.

No School on September 1 Labor Day

September 3 Open House at Whittier School


Open house is a great night to meet parents and sign up for Parent/Teacher conferences. This year open house is from 6-7pm.

I will be looking forward to meeting everyone!

Back-to-School!

Our new principal Mr. Talluto has been working hard at Whittier School getting things ready for the first days of school. He has allowed the teachers to come in early to set up classrooms. This has been extremely helpful since we have the Intermediate Literacy Program for reading and a new math series to get ready. We have had workshops on math, writing, and reading throughout the summer. Many teachers have been at Whittier School working hard to get things ready for their students.

This year we will not have the First Day of School celebration! We will be having Open House very soon after we start school, so we will meet the parents then.

This year I plan to use wikis and blogs again in the classroom. Blogs are an excellent way to keep a journal. Journaling promotes writing and reading. You can find free blogs at http://www.blogger.com

Israel 2008 Picasa Web Albums

Picasa Web Albums are fun and easy to make. Here is part 1 of my Israel pictures taken this summer with my husband.

Back-to-School

This is an exciting time of year for students who are returning to school. They are full of excitement for the new school year having been off for summer vacation. Many students do want to come back-to-school; however, there are some who do not want to return. For them, it has been fun not to work on homework or reading assignments for tests.

School shouldn't always be about dreadful things we don't want to do, but can be about things that we like to do. To help your child or children stay excited about school, find out what they are really interested in and let them explore. The Internet is a wonderful resource for learning about many topics of interest. When I am visiting my mom (who does not have Internet), I am amazed at how I miss the Internet and looking up words or topics that come up in conversations. To deepen the meaning of conversations, the Internet is a very useful tool.

Walden University

This has been an exciting summer vacation. I finished my Ph. D. degree at Walden University. It was a great adventure! My official date for finishing is August 24, 2008. I will be attending the Winter Commencement in Texas.

Walden University is an online university and has been fantastic! I have been with Walden for four years and have had nothing but good things happening. I have met online and in-person some amazing people. We have worked on many projects together through chat rooms, phone calls, and class posting areas.

Two Types of Learning modes:

asynchronous and Synchronous

Students check these terms out and let me know what you think!